Property and person crimes in Appleton decreased in 2025, and drug crimes increased, according to the Appleton Police Department’s annual report.
The decline in property and person crimes continues a five-year trend. Property crimes have fallen 38% since 2021, and personal crimes have dropped 23%.
Societal crimes, which include drugs and pornography, rose 17% in 2025 but were down 7% in the past five years.
Appleton had no homicides in 2025.
“This does not happen by accident,” Police Chief Polly Olson said. “It reflects the hard work of our officers, the strength of the partnerships that we’ve built and the engagement of our community.”
Common Council member Katie Van Zeeland found the crime trends reassuring.
“In an age of the internet, where you see things all the time, it’s easy to feel that there are things happening in your community that aren’t actually happening in your community,” Van Zeeland told Olson. “We’re really thankful for everything that your crew does for us to keep us safe.”
Thefts, assaults and drugs top Appleton crime statistics
The number of property crimes in Appleton totaled 1,422 in 2025. That’s well below the five-year average of 2,007.
The five most common property crimes in Appleton were larceny/theft (639), damage to property (332), fraud (297), burglary (44) and motor vehicle theft (28).
Incidents of crimes against people numbered 847 in 2025. That’s below the five-year average of 950.
Assault was by far the most common person crime (744), followed by sex offenses (69), kidnapping/abduction (19), nonforcible sex offenses (12) and human trafficking (3).
Incidents of societal crimes reached 1,080 in 2025, compared with the five-year average of 1,106.
Illegal drugs (992) topped the list, followed by weapons (47), pornography (31), animal cruelty (8), gambling (1) and prostitution (1).
In all, Appleton police responded to 65,366 calls for service in 2025.
Appleton police seize nearly 32 pounds of illegal drugs
The Special Investigations Unit made 127 arrests and seized 27 firearms, $62,598 in currency and nearly 32 pounds of illegal drugs in 2025.
All were increases from 2024.
The drugs seized by the unit included:
The totals are in addition to the firearms and drugs seized by the four-county Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group in 2025. Appleton assigns a full-time narcotics investigator to the unit.
The MEG seized 79 firearms and the following quantities of drugs:
Appleton police use force on 72 people in 2025
Appleton police used force on 72 people during 67 incidents in 2025. For the first time in four years, there was no use of deadly force.
The most common use of force was decentralization, which involves bringing a resisting person to the ground to control their movements before handcuffing. Officers used decentralization on 59 people.
Other methods employed were hand strikes (10), Tasers (8), elbow strikes (1), knee strikes (1), vertical/ground stuns (1) and canine bites (1).
“Our use of force remains low, with the majority involving minimal control techniques,” Olson said.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X at @DukeBehnke.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton PD reports fewer property and person crimes, more drug crimes
Reporting by Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
